1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a rail transport system with automatic composition of convoys.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is well known, the management of the movement of wagons, mainly in the transport of goods, is currently managed on the basis of planning the offer of transport, conceived at table on the basis of historical data and presumable trends in affairs, without taking into account the effective present request. In fact, the availability of a train for the transfer of a goods wagon, collecting it from any particular station along the routes covered by the trains, is costly and very slow.
Actually, there is no central coordination between the needs for transport and the same offer of transport is often undersized because, in the absence of certain or probable requests for transport, the creation of costly logistics structures is avoided. Hence, in the majority of cases, the trains are formed in the station of departure and arrive unformed at the station of arrival, where only later they will be shunted. Nevertheless, this operation doesn't take account of optimization of the routes of the single wagons, so creating evident diseconomies if, in a station of departure, there is insufficient demand for transport. Moreover, the stations of movements necessitate the presence of a specific office (with the relative organization of spaces, equipment, people, movement of information) that manages the incoming and departing movements. In particular, technical personnel assigned to coupling/uncoupling the wagons must be present, other than the administrative staff. In addition, it should be requested a shunting locomotive (otherwise it is necessary to use the train's locomotive) and the relative train-driver. This costly organization existed some years ago, but it has been suppressed, firstly by suppressing the presence of the goods bays in the smaller stations, then by closing the offices, even in some of the main stations, up to the current scant numbers. The lack of demand closes goods yards, the absence of which in turn inhibits the birth of any demand for goods transport by rail.
Known solutions have been proposed to solve this problems.
As an example, the patent application WO2010043967A1 published on Apr. 22, 2010 in the name of DONNELLY FRANK WEGNER describes a rail-based system for moving materials, in particular a system of automated self-powered rail cars operating independently to transport material such as one from a work face in a mine or cargo from a marine port to a major transportation hub. In a specific embodiment, in the railway transport system a railway network, controlled by a central control unit, foresees the use of an intelligent carriage, equipped with an autonomous computerized control unit which coordinates the movements of the carriage, following the indications that arrive from the central system and at least from one element of controllable rail-track. The system operates in the following way: the central unit knows the geographical (spatial) position of each of the railway carriages because of the reception of signals of position from every carriage. Every carriage has a single identity code and periodically transmits the information perceived and gathered to the central unit. The control interface receives information from each signal emitter for the successive section of rail in the direction of travel. As a railway carriage comes closer to an element of rail, the physical and spatial position of the carriage is determined by the central unit and suitable commands are sent to the section of rail. For example, the formulation of a switch is modified to direct the carriages to the second or third section of rail. In response to various stimuli, such as the weather or the traffic conditions, the central unit is capable of sending different groups of signals or instructions to the signal emitters to pass to the carriage. The main function is that of hauling. The wagon can be compared to a small locomotive, with the possibility of it being controlled from a distance. The single wagons with the total number of engines mounted on the axles determine the maximum autonomous or supporting motive-power to move the train, which remains, however, within the classical ideology of movement and management of railway traffic.
So, it is evident that this patent application foresees the possibility of an autonomous movement of the wagon in a context of traditional trains, which integrates in a natural way since the wagon can couple itself to all the existing wagons.
The problem of this solution is that the control of single rail track elements and of their composition into the existing railway lines is made with necessary modifications of the existing rail network infrastructure. Moreover, it is foreseen that the operations of uncoupling the wagons take place with the classic techniques that necessitate specific personnel for the operations of uncoupling and coupling. In addition, on board a locomotive there isn't a system of control of the carriages and interface with the network owner and therefore with switching management systems. For these reasons, such a solution would be difficult to introduce into an international railway network in which the various international networks are connected between themselves. In fact, every national railway network has its own control system, and the introduction of sections controlled by a central system would encounter the difficulty of utilizing a single system of control of the sections of rail.
A second solution is described in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,828,979 assigned on Oct. 27, 1998 to HARRIS CORP. The solution consists in a system and method for controlling the movement of plural freight trains through a multiple route railway system with improved efficiency and safety. Freight train movements are precisely monitored and orchestrated in accordance with a dynamic schedule that is determined through an evaluation of delivery requirements, coordination among all trains, speed restrictions and the effects of the track topography and train consist on train response to brake and power application.
Even if advantageous under many aspects, this system only permits the implementation of a program but doesn't intervene in the effective composition of the train. It is limited to managing a train that is already formed or is to be formed, but the formation of the train remains traditional and foresees the participation of manual shunters, leaving the costs of railway transport on the goods unchanged. Furthermore, it is applicable only to the transport of goods.